AFC South Exposed: The Tennessee Titans are Screwed
By Luke Sims
Bud Adams, you lovely, lovely man!
When Bud Adams first announced that he wanted Peyton Manning I just about kissed his old wrinkly forehead. A number of things happened when Adams announced that the Titans needed Peyton Manning:
- The world learned that Jake Locker may not be as good as everyone thought he was (we could have told you that).
- Matt Hasselbeck’s days are obviously numbered in Tennessee.
- The Titans’ resources were diverted slightly from scouting and talking to free agents and turned toward trying to bring in a coveted Superstar to somehow quell the uprising of unrest from the fan base.
- We learned that the Titans think they need to get better pieces into their puzzle to make things work.
Let’s take this one at a time.
1) Jake Locker was drafted to be the next big franchise quarterback in Tennessee. He is supposed to be the cross between Vince Young’s athleticism and Steve McNair’s elegant play. Only his throws have always been slightly erratic. To rectify this, the Titans rightly brought in Matt Hasselbeck (Why couldn’t the Jags do this?) for the young Locker to learn from. The move paid off. But Locker is supposed to be developing quite well. So why would the Titans feel a need to go after another aging quarterback to replace their young gun? We don’t know, but keep the question in the back of your mind when Locker gets a start or two this season.
2) If Matt Hasselbeck didn’t know his days in Tennessee would be numbered when they brought him in, then he got gypped. But seriously, Hasselbeck played extremely well in 2011, but he probably won’t be making all of the starts in 2012 unless the team is winning handily/winning. Look for Hasselbeck to become a potential trade to someone like Cleveland or to be gone by the start of next offseason. As good as he is (and he is really good), the Titans felt like they could still do better with Manning. Curious that they didn’t think they could do better with Jake Locker….hmmmm.
3) This is a tough one to get away from. Essentially Bud Adams told his staff that they had to pursue Manning. He was so adamant that it felt as if the Titans organization dropped everything to follow their fearless leader. Cortland Finnegan getting away to St. Louis? Yeah, that’s going to hurt. How about finding another receiver to help out the overmatched Jake Locker or to bolster Matt Hasselbeck? Didn’t think about that while you were trying to pursue Manning, did you? Sorry to hear it.
4) On the whole, the Titans failed to better their roster in their pursuit of Manning. But not only that, we learned that they are desperate for star power and good football players. The Titans are a solid team and are usually well run. The fact that Bud Adams felt it was necessary to step in and pretend to be general manager speaks volumes about how shaky he thinks the Titans’ foundation is. I expect this past 9-7 season was a fluke. Look for a decrease.
Now, back to my love affair with Bud Adams. I think that the Titans are either genius or they are actually as screwed as Adams let on.
Word of advice: Don’t show your cards to everyone this early in the offseason. Especially when you obviously don’t have any good ones.
– Luke N. Sims